Zachary Rayne
|gender= Male |height= |weight= |hair= |eyes= |cyber= |specialty= |sigweapons= |rank= |serviceno= |branch= |unit=Maelstrom |commandsheld= |affiliation= *Section One **Maelstrom *Section Three |notable= }} Operative Zachary Rayne—also known by the aliases Zachary Yoxall ( ), Zachary Corwin ( Dawn's Embrace), and Spencer Ford ( ) as well as callsigns such as Maelstrom One (Gilgamesh)—is an agent working for Section One and briefly Section Three. He generally works alongside his companion, Theia. Early Life Joining Section One Operation: WHITE ELEPHANT Meeting Theia Operation on Gilgamesh Yuri's Interrogation While preparing to relocate Maelstrom's safe-house, Rayne was interrupted by a group of unexpected visitors. Valor, a Rangers fireteam, arrived with rescued pilot Aleksandra "Sasha" Zaytseva and a captured insurrectionist. Having heard the explosions from the crashed , Rayne was furious. He ordered everyone inside immediately, and had Valor wake up the sedated insurrectionist using ice water. Despite wanting to shoot the insurrectionist on the spot, he instead attempted to interrogate the insurrectionist with no success. To make matters worse, Valor begins to accidentally spill information, beginning with the names of the people present. Rayne, still aggravated by the horribly executed supply drop, ordered Valor to remain completely silent. As Rayne was prepared to simply give up and shoot the rebel, Hotel-II arrived by Spade. Cody took over the interrogation, and Valor went outside to do a perimeter sweep. Cody began using questionable methods to interrogate the insurrectionist, resulting in a very quick torture session before the insurrectionist revealed his name: Yuri Popov. Satisfied with Cody's methods, Rayne allowed Cody to take over the interrogation. Having overheard Sasha talking to Jamison, Rayne had Sasha follow him into the back room. There, the two discussed the events of the crash and the resulting firefight. Rayne also successfully recruited Sasha to be a deep cover agent, as per her request. When he returned to the main room, he allowed the rebel to be killed, ensuring that he couldn't tell anyone about their operation or about Sasha. Firefight at the Safe-House He soon received word from Valor of approaching insurrectionists, followed by a knock on the front door. He quickly got his out of its case and prepared for the fight. The door was breached and a was tossed into the room. Rayne quickly kicked the grenade into the back room and dove into cover behind a half-wall. Another grenade, this time a flashbang, was thrown into the room. Rayne ducked behind his cover to avoid being blinded before returning to his shooting position. As Rayne was unable to get shots off—Cody was blocking his line of fire—he proceeded to converse with Valor over comms. He ordered a tactical retreat, as the insurrectionists were arriving in full force. Cody proceeded to smash open a hole in the back wall of the safe-house for Rayne and Jamison's retreat. Explosives were planted in the safe-house and Cody soon followed through the hole. The explosion kicked up a lot of dust and smoke, which caused Rayne to have trouble breathing. After somehow keeping up with the Spartans for a few blocks of running, Rayne stopped to take a few breaths. Before Rayne could catch his breath, Ulan tackled him to the ground. Cody quickly pulled Ulan off of Rayne, getting into a close quarters brawl with the insurrectionist. Rayne, in a lot of pain and with minor injuries, dropped his rifle and drew his . He proceeded to fire off multiple magazines worth of rounds at Ulan, missing most shots due to his exhaustion and pain. Giving up, he fell to the ground and rested as he watched Cody and Ulan duel. Eventually he worked up enough strength to resume aiding Cody, by firing off yet another magazine worth of shots before Cody got in his line of fire again. Before he could continue, more insurrectionists showed up and forced Rayne into cover. From there, he ordered Valor to regroup with him and Cody, who were in dire need of assistance. Attempting to cover Cody by shooting at the newly arrived insurrectionists, Rayne witnessed Valor 1-1's death, as he and the rest of the team showed up to aid Cody, Jamison, and Rayne. Shortly after, both Rayne and Ulan ordered a retreat, as neither side was gaining ground in the fight. After the insurrectionists fled, Rayne returned to 1-1's body alongside Valor and Maelstrom. From there, he, Hotel-II, and Valor parted ways, with Valor rigging 1-1's body to explode shortly after they leave. Lone Wolf Following the firefight at the safe-house, Rayne went his own way to distance himself from Hotel-II and Valor for a small period of time. The following day, Rayne met up with another contact of his on the planet, another Section One agent named Jake Gonzales. He and Gonzales used the time to trade information that they had gathered over the last few weeks. One piece of intelligence caught Rayne's attention: an intercepted transmission about an envoy headed to Gilgamesh to meet with the Free State. Rayne immediately noticed that the envoy's name was Mendoza, believing it to be the same person who captured him two years prior during Operation: WHITE ELEPHANT. Meeting with Garan Later that same day, Rayne attended a meeting with Edward Garan, despite being fearful of being caught. During the meeting, he agreed to continue supplying the Free State with firearms, stating that he had a contact on Venezia that could strike him a deal. He was also pinged by Valor during the meeting. Luckily, Rayne was able to hide it from Garan, as that would have surely cost Rayne his life if Garan noticed. Rayne did not gain much intel during the meeting, as he didn't want to make the man suspicious, especially after Ulan's close up encounter with Rayne the previous day. Following the meeting, Rayne contacted Valor 1-2, who informed the former that they were in the middle of another firefight with Ulan, and that 1-2 and Cody had captured another insurrectionist. After contacting both Cody and 1-3 out of anger, Rayne decided that the next best course of action was to pull out and restrategize. He ordered both Hotel-II and Valor to meet him at Valor's base camp the following day, in order to transfer intel and develop a new plan. Base Camp A little over six hours later, Rayne arrived at the base camp, where Hotel-II and Valor were already located. He exited the Spade with his gear and approached Jamison and Cody, the latter of which had a package for Rayne. Rayne, not immediately recognizing the package to be Funderburg's dead drop, declined the package. He instead gave Hotel and Valor of the intel he and Gonzales received the previous day, including the intercepted transmission mentioning Mendoza. Valor then left, having been preparing to recon a nearby GFS patrol. Before Rayne could ask for the package, multiple bombers flew overhead, startling him. He quickly realized that they were simply passing over, and calmed back down. He proceeded to open the package, revealing a map of detailed GFS troop movements and targets. Using the map and the flight path of the bombers, Rayne was able to locate the airfield in which the bombers originated from. While no airfield was located directly inline with the flight path, two airfields were close enough to be possible candidates. After showing this to Hotel-II, gunshots were heard in the distance. The team decided to investigate, driving a Spade through the woods in the general direction of the gunfire. However, the gunfire stopped shortly after. Rayne assumed that the UNSC troops involved in the fight most likely perished, although Hotel-II was optimistic. The Spartans exited the vehicle and began searching for survivors. Rayne, remaining in his Spade, attempted to contact Valor. After a period of confusion due to radio problems, Rayne was able to get Valor to return to base camp to prepare for the team's next move. New Plan The team then prepared for a raid on the nearby airbase, planning to simultaneously remove the GFS air presence and hijack themselves a pelican. However, a sudden realization by Rayne developed a new plan with a much higher chance of success. For the plan to work, Hotel-II donated their spare SPI suit to Sasha. After some short training with the suit, the team—minus Hotel-II—drove to the capital to meet with Garan, who still trusted Rayne. Expecting to need to call ahead to get a meeting with Garan, Rayne called him on his chatter while the rest of the team remained silent in the background. Surprisingly, Garan allowed Rayne to take one of his ships without much persuasion. Rayne promised to speak to Garan personally when he returns from his trip to Venezia, and hung up. The team then traveled to the closest airfield, where Rayne used a fake ID of his cover and Garan's permission to gain access. The Trip Upon arrival to Venezia, Rayne noticed the bag containing Sasha's SPI and ordered Valor to grab it out of fear of being found by the GFS. Shortly after, Valor, he, and his GFS security detail exited the ship and headed for his contact, a fellow Section One agent known as Travis Dzousa. Upon arrival to Dzousa's workplace, Rayne overheard radio chatter mentioning Sasha's discovery on Venezia. Satisfied that she was already back at the Preston Cole Memorial starport, he did not bother to stop two of his security escort troopers from leaving to follow her and regroup with the troopers at the ship. He and Dzousa negotiated a fair price for the weapons, hidden within crates labeled "cayenne." He, Valor, and the security detail then proceeded to bring the crates back to the ship. The ship took off shortly after, headed back for Gilgamesh. Contacting Section One Upon returning to Gilgamesh, Rayne met up with Garan in his office as promised. He notified Garan of the weapons he supplied as well as "Sara's" appearance on Venezia. Rayne was dismissed without further questioning. He then met with a representative of the Baal Defense Solutions about what they refer to as "Andromalius." He proceeded to hire their false flag operation to use as a distraction to keep the GFS distracted. However, he did not have access to the necessary funds to pay for the operation. Knowing that BDS had access to communications equipment that could reach his father on Earth, he requested access to them. The BDS representative allowed access to the equipment, and opened a call with his father. Rayne used the call to sneak a list of requested supplies to his father, who successfully received the list and paid for Andromalius's service. Crow Bar Supply Drop Meeting With Daisy Nyek Moving In UNSC Dawn's Embrace Interrogation Transferring to Section Three Returning to Sydney The Salem Facility Helping 176 Benevolent Monarch .]] The Disk Contacting Ion Returning to Section One CRF Civil War Personality Relations Edward Rayne Travis Dzousa Kyle-B115 Grant Mendoza Theia Cody-B042 Jamison-G144 Fireteam Valor Rayne generally dislikes Fireteam Valor, due to their constant "fuck-ups" and their less-serious attitude. As Rayne is a man of results, he constantly blames Valor for ruining his operation on Gilgamesh. Aleksandra "Sasha" Zaytseva Jake Gonzales Team Ion Appearances *''Status Quo'' *''Halo: Freeform Evolved'' *''Remember My Name'' *''Halo: Graveyard''